Legends of The Catwoman: Volume 1
by Circe4
Summary: This volume deals with the TV Animated Series version of Catwoman. Takes place in the timeline of 'Batman Beyond'. Selina returns to Gotham and takes time to reflect.


TITLE: LEGENDS OF THE CATWOMAN: VOLUME 1  
DATE: NOVEMBER 29, 2002  
NOTES: Damn...It's been forever since I wrote a fan fiction, but believe me, my heart's been   
yearning for it. I've had so many requests latley (especialy in the shoned ai department) but   
I've just been wrapped up in original projects and what not. So what's this new story I'm working  
on? "Legends of the Catwoman" is a collection of fan fictions devoted to the many different   
versions of the Queen of the Night. I was orininaly going to start with a fan fiction on the   
modern day comic book Catwoman, but I've had the idea for a fic on the animated series version  
rolling around my head lately. Anyway, this story takes place around the Batman Beyond timeline.  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
This city sure as hell isn't who she used to be. I can just barely recognize her. You know, it's  
kind of funny. Hurdling across rooftops, holding stolen diamonds close to my heart, back when I  
knew Gotham, it felt as if I were gazing into a mirror.   
  
Don't kid yourself, Selina. You were lost from day one. Even when you climbed the social ladder  
and became a darling socialite of the city like Bruce, you knew you were out of place. The city  
might have accepted you back then as Selina Kyle, but as Catwoman, you were constantly trying to  
fill the void. And you can't lie, it was a thriller.   
  
But what I'm trying to get at here, with the whole 'Gotham City-mirror' metaphor bit, is the   
fact that the city was my best friend. That is because it was always so much like me. It's entity  
was like a twin. Aloof, deadly, dark, and ultimately confused and more complex than any dream  
I've ever had.  
  
The city lights were like my constellations-Gods which I called upon in my darkest night. But  
now I don't even recognize them, and that makes me feel abandoned.  
  
I don't understand. I guess it's just a qaurk of mine. I always feel abandoned-when I'm always  
the one doing the abandoing. It was all me- I left Gotham back then.  
  
I'll never forget that night. How it has echoed in my nightmares, I'll never be able to actually   
explain. I've changed so much. Maybe not in the space of just one night, but in the emotional   
hell that followed.  
  
I was reluctant at first, but I had to be a good girl. It took so much to get Gordon to back off  
of me. I couldn't afford to upset him then. Besides, money was so hard to come by after my  
identity was revealed and I lost my penthouse, and my seat in Gotham's socialite circle.   
  
So I agreed with him. I decided to help Batman track down The Scarecrow. I was the only one who  
had any possible idea to where Crane was hiding. I had recently pulled a heist for him, but in  
exchange for a batch of his anti-fear syrome. Thought the little potion would make me stronger  
and incvincible in such trying times. Besides, I couldn't lie to my own heart. Fighting by his  
side, ruling Gotham's nights with him, was my heart's desire. I knew he could fill the void.  
  
Scarecrow-Jonathan Crane that is-was holding Gotham's sweethearts ransom that night; daddy's  
girls such as the mayor's daughter and even Comissioner Gordon's daughter, Barbra. See, the  
Scarecrow had a murder charge on his head-a big one. They thought it was Joker at first, but that  
would have been impossible. But anyway, that's when I saw-we saw the scared little boy Dr. Crane  
really is. But I was the one to discover how awful the terrors of defeat really are.   
  
Batman warned me not to be so hostile with The Scarecrow, but I was so selfish back then I   
wouldn't even listen. Crane had used his fear gass on me to conjure up some pretty bad memories,  
and everyone knows you don't tread on a cat's personal ground. I almost killed the guy, beat him  
up pretty badly. I just couldn't think straight. But I didn't stop there...no, I just had to hit  
him where it hurts. His life studies of fear, all his documents, his notes and files-I   
destroyed them all. I ruined him, more than anyone ever had. But my actions would be punished,  
but in a way so much worse than I would have imagined.  
  
Well, Batman and I turned The Scarecrow in, and they locked him up in Arkham's darkest hall and  
threw away the key. No one dared go near him in the mood he was in. If looks could kill...That  
hatred in his eyes...I'll never be able to forget.  
  
I didn't know it at the time, but after I destroyed his life's work, he drugged me. This wasn't  
just any kind of drug. No...It got to my head real fast, took advantage of my bolder side and  
intensified it like crazy. He brought upon me quite a breakdown. And for the next few months,   
let's just say I was hell on weels in Gotham. But this is no laughing matter. I did some pretty  
horrible things.  
  
And then it happened. I had became so consumed by the thirst for vegance I couldn't even look  
myself in the mirror anymore. I found out what Scarecrow did to me and I had to take my revenge.  
I actually broke into Arkham Asylum. I had one last battle with Scarecrow that night, and Batman,  
who had been tracking me for months, showed up too. He made a good point during the rooftop  
fight. Told me if I killed The Scarecrow-a man who had no more will in life, a man who's only  
desire was to see me lose my sanity-he would be the one to claim revenge, and then his life would  
have meaning. But I couldn't have that. No, I always had to be so damn self-centered. So I let  
him live. But I got what I deserved. With all the strength he could muster, Scarecrow pushed me  
off the roof, and I fell right through the cliffs. But Bruce never found me. Scarecrow made sure  
of it. But I guess Batman took Scarecrow down though. And for years after, he continued to rule  
Gotham's nights.  
  
I survived, yeah...but even now I still have trouble looking in the mirror. But I don't blame The  
Scarecrow, no. I brought it all on myself, just as I always have. And now I just have to cop with  
it and try to push on.   
  
Besides...I always land on my feet. 


End file.
